House: Time is right for PS3 motion control

Sony has said that the time is right for the company to introduce motion control technology to the PlayStation 3 platform.

A firm launch date, solid technology and a clear idea of how it will translate to alternative gaming experiences are the three crucial elements that can help the new control method establish itself on the market, said CEO and president of SCEE, Andrew House.

"We have have a lot of confidence from a Sony standpoint on the right time to introduce new technology and new interfaces, and the goal of the company has always been to do it at the right time, when we can make a difference and be best of breed," House told our sister site GamesIndustry.biz.

"What we had at the E3 showing was very forward-facing technology, a firm date for launch which is important as it gives us a good lead time to assemble the right sorts of content to take advantage of it. And we demonstrated a very tangible sense of how this will translate into gaming experiences. Those are three critical things."

While Nintendo's Wiimote has been on the market for some time, House said that accuracy is the key to the technology, and he's confident Sony's effort will prove that motion control is more than just a gimmick.

"It's stunningly accurate in terms of the way it tracks movement. That sounds like an incremental step in terms of motion technology, but it's a huge one in terms of saying 'now it's arrived' and it's really going to change the way we think about how we play games."

Sony has announced a spring 2010 launch date for the new technology, but other solid details are still under wraps. House would not be drawn on a price for the new control method and only indicated that bundling it with all future PlayStation 3 hardware was a "possibility".

He also shrugged off competition from Nintendo's Wii MotionPlus and Microsoft's Project Natal, adding that motion control will strengthen the PlayStation 3's features.

"I'm not unduly worried and I think the reason for that is that we've done a very good job with the PlayStation 3 as an overall value proposition without any motion control technology," said House.

"We went into this show with a tremendous software line-up, strong confidence in the platform's power and the kind of experiences that are only possible on PlayStation," he said of E3. "This gives us one more extension to that, it helps us build the business in a different direction."